6th April:
Today was the day we were heading out to Philip Island to see penguins. The bus was picking us up at 12.20 so we had a couple of hours to kill in the am. And I needed shoes. A good sturdy comfy pair of walking shoes. What I had bought only last week in Hyderabad were no good, so the first thing I did was go out and get a pair of shoes. A bit pricey, but hopefully they will last me a long time. A bit more wandering around central Melbourne and we came back and waited for the bus.
Once we got on the bus we went all around town picking up other folks too from various pick up points, and finally about 1.20 or so we started out for Philip Island. Our bus driver was a chatty burly jolly guy called Shane, who talked non stop to the passengers all along the way. Many fell asleep.....Our first stop was a cattle farm in Koo Wee Rup, where we got to feed carrots to Walley and Stewart the wombats, saw wallabees and emus, and fed kangaroos. These sweet creatures would come jumping up to us and eat alfalfa out of our hands. We were told not to pet them or get too friendly cos they could kick, but the few we were brave enough to pet, were quite happy. Then some scones and coffee at the cafe - which were so rich and creamy we could not eat them - and then Raga went back for a second round of kangaroo feeding. But by then they were so satiated with all the food they had been fed, they didn’t even get up. They lay on the ground and made some feeble attempts to eat out of Raga’s hand!! We gave up!
Next was a Koala Conservation Center where we saw these furry little guys and gals all living up high on the branches of eucalyptus, or as they call then here, gum trees. Its wonderful to see these animals being allowed to love in their natural habitat as opposed to cages in zoos. Of course we had to be respectful of that and not try to coerce the to come down from their perches, or shout out to them. Koalas live on gum leaves which have no nutrients to speak of, so they have no energy to speak of. They do not move around too much, their digestive systems are very slow and they try to conserve all their energy. Fascinating!
By now it was close to 5pm and we wanted to get to Philip Island by 6 pm so we could get to our viewing places by 6.30. We had been told given the time conditions (Australia just moved their clocks back on the 3rd for daylight savings) the birds would come ashore starting 6.45, when the sky turned dark.
A little explanation before I move on. This island is home to thousands of little penguins, the world’s smallest penguin standing tall at 13” high. This is their natural home, we humans have to get behind a barricade to see them. They leave their little burrows of clumps of grass and sand to swim out to sea, in the morning before the sun comes up. Then they stay out there all day, sometimes swimming as far out as 50 kms in a day, to eat fish. This they then bring back to their family to regurgitate and feed. They have a dangerous life....sharks and dolphins can eat them in the water, birds and hawks get them on shore. Which is why they prefer to do all their work in the dark. Their return home is now an amazing spectacle that has been made available for us humans to watch.
So we walked along a 1/2 km long boardwalk and got to the viewing platform, a tiered deck of sorts, corralled by rope and sat down. There was a sand dune that led down to the water from the deck. It was bitterly cold, the wind was blowing but thankfully we were well prepared. The sky was darkening and we were all looking out to sea. Kids were chattering excitedly pointing to this and that...a lot of false calls. Then suddenly at about 6.35 we heard a sound...ack ack ack. Then more. And then out of nowhere on the rocks down by the shore, we saw a blur of white. It was dark, the sun had set, so it was a little hard to tell what it was. But it was a line of white....and we realized the first set of penguins had jumped out of the water onto the rocks their puffy white chests all against the dark dusky water. It must have been a group of 10-12. They waited a minute or so then started their slow waddle up the dune towards us. There were strict rules about being quiet so we all sat silently till we saw their heads bobbing above the clumpy grass a few feet ahead of us. It was thrilling. Then they all appeared....huffing and puffing from the uphill climb and rested right there...in front of the platform, hardly 20 feet from us. By now the second batch had appeared on the rocks..it was like a relay...and had started their climb uphill. I was reminded of the Danskin triathlon....jogging, swimming and biking. These little birds were doing the same thing - fishing, swimming and then walking in their black and white leotards!!!
This group was a bigger group and a noisier bunch. They ack acked their way up chattering about the day I suppose...what did you catch? I caught a big fish...was it cold? etc etc....By now the first group had sort of dispersed and were making their way up the grassy slopes all around us to their individual homes. Batch 2 was coming uphill faster and furiouser and they too reached the top and rested a while. About 15 of them. By now batch 3 had come onto the rocks....and so it continued this little production line of penguins..walking uphill, taking a pause, then wandering off to their homes all around us, many walking alongside the boardwalk, and some almost 1 km to their home. By now people had left the platform and were following groups of penguins on their journey home. We did the same...we watched this third group of about 20 and walked along with them, they were on the ground and we on the roped boardwalk above and alongside, we could have reached out and touched them, they were that close to the rope. On either side of us we could see penguins that had reached home, burrowing into the holes, happy to meet their families.
Raga and I have travelled a lot, seen many places and many exciting things, but this has got to be the most thrilling spectacle we have ever seen. I have a whole new respect for these birds. They are amazing!
The bus ride home was long, 2 hrs long so we slept. We got dropped off at Chinatown and searched for another place for dinner. We had done Chinese and Thai, thought we would give Vietnamese a go. But the menu was not at all veg friendly, so we went back to Your Thai! Again, some lip smacking food, we were happy.
Walked back to hotel, went to bed at midnight still talking about penguins!!
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